The processual nature of leadership discourses

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possibilities of applying discourse analysis to the study of processuality. The specific subject chosen is the construction of leadership discourses in one particular type of art-producing organization, namely, the symphony orchestra. The paper demonstrates the versatile and paradoxical nature of the leadership discourses (art as against business, dislike of authority, need for heroic leadership and shared leadership) that are inherent in symphony orchestras, and explores the processual nature of these discourses in terms of their relational, contradictory and translocal nature. Leadership discourses do vary over time but still remain surprisingly and disappointingly stable, closely connected to the basic assumptions of traditional leadership literature. The paper concludes by stating that despite the current state of affairs, there is definitely hope for alternative leadership models to emerge and become more powerful.